


the one where they're all kids (and Penny doesn't like it)

by Evanaissante



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Fluff, Pure Cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-16 03:33:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20181541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evanaissante/pseuds/Evanaissante
Summary: A spell goes wrong, they all turn into kids, except for Penny who just really wants a holiday.(inspired bythisfrom pennywaugh on tumblr)





	the one where they're all kids (and Penny doesn't like it)

It was never supposed to go like this, they had all just presumed that the spell was harmless, that it would just unite them and share their strength, _literally_, for the new Big-Evil-Bad-Man they had to fight this week. It was a simple spell, that’s what the book said anyway.

But no.

Of fucking course not, because that couldn’t be Penny’s life. He just had to find a puddle of steaming shit and plunge in it. For fuck sake.

“Kady, stop that,” Penny called out, plucking the small brunette girl off the ground and into his arms as she tried, once again, to grab the crystal chandelier on one of the cottage’s table.

Did Penny mention that he never, ever, ever wanted kids? They were cute, sure, but like a puppy pissing on a carpet was cute, the type of cute that you kept far away to stay sane. And now here he was, juggling between five kids that aren’t even his own, that are supposed to be his motherfucking,_ twenty-something, _friends.

He’s been researching a way to break the spell all day, but he hadn’t really found anything yet, mostly because he had spent the entire morning with Eliot up on his shoulders, playing pirate with what seemed to be an empty Gin bottle (but that was a problem for another day, good gosh). Penny wants to say that after that he had gotten the time to get some work done, but then Alice had started crying, big ugly tears that rolled on her red cheeks while she hiccuped words he couldn’t decipher. It’s Quentin who explained to him, while being hidden behind one of the sofa’s big cushions, that Margo had tried to hug Alice so tight that she’d hurt her and that now, Margo was nowhere to be found.

He’d found her thirty minutes later, all alone in Brakebill’s library, her small feet dangling from a chair as she buried herself under thick books with pastel covers and threatening titles. She’d always been a badass, then.

When lunchtime came and Penny had to travel to McDonald's to get far too many chicken nuggets, he’d been fully ready to call Child Services and move on with his life because _god fucking damn_, children were exhausting.

But then, he’d caught a glimpse of Eliot and Margo, holding hands as if nothing had changed, as if they were still the same codependent adults who lived on alcohol and repressed issues, and his heart had ached a little. Just a little, nothing to make a fuss about. 

Then Kady had grabbed a blanket on the sofa, her arms almost too short to pull it off, she’d been so agitated all morning, her attention divided between the need to steal things but also to break them, but now? She looked focused and calm, so very calm for a five-year-old.

He had watched her drag chairs across the room, making Quentin flinch and press his hands to his ears to cover up the noise, and then she’d gotten up on of them, blanket clutched in one hand and determination visible on her chubby face.

She’d made a pillow fort all on her own like she’d done it before, as if she had spent her entire life working and fighting without anyone to back her up. ¨Penny had almost expected her to get in the fort and block the door, but then she had turned towards Alice and grabbed her hand, pulling her inside with a soft smile that meant a lot more than a child should have been able to say.

Then Margo had followed, marching on to the sound of her own drums, even without the flair and confidence that her years had given her.

Eliot had been right behind her, but he’d stopped to turn around and look at Quentin, who wouldn’t budge from under the sofa, eyes round with fear. Then Eliot had approached, a little wobbly on his feet, and extended a hand to Quentin. It must have taken just a minute before Quentin had come out, fingers now intertwined with Eliot’s, and a soft grin on his face, but it had felt like hours in Penny’s head.

Fuck this, fuck it all. These guys were his friends, the only friends he ever had. They were fucked up, all of them, and apparently, they’d always been goddamn weird. But they were his friends and he’d do anything to get them back.

Anything at all.

(But he wouldn’t change a diaper, fuck that.)

**Author's Note:**

> find me on my [tumblr](https://starryspice.tumblr.com/)


End file.
